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***2021-2022 NBA Season Thread***


RonArtest15

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They hate us cause they ain't us

Not a hater of GS by any means.  But I don't want them to beat the regular season record of 72-10 set by the 95-96 Bulls.  Why you may ask young Doc?

 

I'll tell you.  Because growing up I was a Bulls fan, Hornets weren't around yet.  Got out of NBA basketball around 2000-2001, got back into when Charlotte got the next expansion team, decided to support the home team 100%, regardless of how ****ty they have been.

Edited by Dont Taze Me Bro
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Like I said before, Golden St is more than a team. They are history. Im not yet ready to accept that they are the greatest group to ever step on the court, eclipsing every great team, every dynasty.

I can't let go. Therefore they must be stopped.

Edited by Mr. Sinister
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I can't believe some of y'all thought the Warriors were going to lose. I mean, of course it's easy for me to say this AFTER the game... 

But after Saturday, the Thunder choked a game away at home that they should've won. So there was no way I would have expected them to go to Golden State on back to back games and beat them.

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I think so too.  Curry out (or hobbled at best) is a problem.  Igoudala also out makes it a much bigger problem.   The team has other shooters than Curry and other defenders than Iggy, but those two guys are the primary ball handlers on the first and second units, and they are the two guys on defense who most make other teams pay for lazy passes.  

 

OKC is going to playing angry - I imagine Westbrook has steam coming out of his ears by now.  He is going to attack the rim like a madman and put Bogut in foul trouble - and our backup rim protector (Ezili) is also out.  

 

 

Once again, Predicto the great proves that his predictions are always, always wrong.

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Ummm, you might want to double check that.

Or my apologies if I'm misunderstanding you.

 

I'm almost 41, started pulling for the Bulls in 1984 when they drafted Jordan (UNC fan here) when I was 9 years old.  Hornets first season was 1988.  

 

I'm not from Charlotte originally either, grew up about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours outside, but still kept up with the team (since it was so close) and went to plenty of games growing up and when I moved there for college in 1995.

 

I probably should have worded it like this:  When I started really getting into NBA Basketball, I pulled for the Bulls because of Jordan and the Hornets not existing until four years later after he was drafted by the Bulls.

Edited by Dont Taze Me Bro
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/thunder/2016/03/03/kevin-durant-thunder/81270644/

 

Kevin Durant grounded as free agency nears

 

 

Yet there’s a unique aspect to Durant’s free agency case that makes it all the more challenging for the Thunder, one that he admitted “makes everything just wide open at this point” in terms of these free agency waters he’ll soon navigate.

 

Because the NBA’s salary cap is set to spike from $70 million to approximately $92 million – a ripple effect of the nine-year, $24 billion television deal the league struck with ESPN and Turner in Oct. 2014 – top-tier teams like the Warriors that would have otherwise had no chance in the Durant sweepstakes now threaten to steal him away. What’s more, this league-wide development runs the risk of seriously compromising the push for league-wide parity that was such a major part of the NBA’s stance during the 2011 lockout.

 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted in a recent interview with USA TODAY Sports that the spike will be “disruptive in ways that we can’t even predict,” but it’s fair to assume that the Thunder (and teams like them that want to hold onto their star players) wish league officials would have built in protections to this problem in time to stop it. Once Silver failed to convince the players to agree to “smoothing,” a process by which the salary cap spike would have been phased in at a much slower rate, the free agency floodgates were opened.

 

According to an October report by SB Nation that was published before 2016-17 projections increased from $89 to $92 million, teams could have more than $1 billion in combined salary cap space. Of the 30 teams, 25 of are projected to have enough space to sign a maximum-salary player ($25.1 million in the first season). Yet for players like Durant, this unprecedented landscape creates seemingly-endless freedom and opportunity – even if decisions like the one he’ll make in July get significantly tougher as a result.

 

 

 

Edited by BRAVEONAWARPATH
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The big 3 in Miami killed the only real chance OKC had at winning a title. 

 

Makes KD's upcoming free agency decision that much more interesting.  You have to think that the thought has at least crossed his mind that an easier path to the finals might be by joining a team in the East. 

 

Who knows? 

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The big 3 in Miami killed the only real chance OKC had at winning a title.

The windows were different. OKC's core was so much younger than Miami's when they met in the Finals. What's killed OKC's title window was trading Harden for a return of Steven Adams. That and serious injuries to Westbrook and Durant in consecutive years that cost them two seasons of legitimate title contention. But even still, I think OKC could have won the title in 2014 without Westbrook if they'd had Harden to replace his production.

But if OKC gets broken up in the next two summers, we're going to point to the Harden trade as the ultimate reason for it. That team was a dynasty in the making before that happened. Three MVP candidates on it, all virtually the same age smh. I'm not sure there has ever been anything organically grown like that before. OKC deserves to get broken up for throwing that away over money.

Not as much of a shame as him having to carry the sad sack Wizards on his back for the rest of his career

I've been sarcastic about the Wizards lately, but dead serious, if Durant showed up in DC next season the team would win 60 games and waltz to the Finals. That's the level of difference he would make. 15 free wins added to the record of whichever team he joins.

Well, except Golden State or San Antonio, who are pretty much maxing out their win potential right now.

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Not as much of a shame as him having to carry the sad sack Wizards on his back for the rest of his career

 

Every contender in the NBA is carried by a superstar, with the one notable exception being the Spurs.  Take Curry off the Warriors and they are first round fodder.  We already know what the Cavs are without Lebron.  The Wizards are good but lack top end talent to be great.   

Would the Wiz automatically be better than the Cavs if they had Durant?

It would be impossible to know unless they played out a playoff series because Lebron transforms into a basketball monster.  Lebron made a garbage team competitive against the Warriors in the finals.  Only way to be sure a team can beat Lebron is to see it happen, and even then it's never a sure thing that it will happen again. 

 

On paper they'd certainly have an argument.  I'd take Beal and Wall over Love and Kyrie in the playoffs as 2nd and third options.   

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On paper they'd certainly have an argument.  I'd take Beal and Wall over Love and Kyrie in the playoffs as 2nd and third options.

Me too. I'd also take Gortat, Porter, Dudley, Sessions, and Nene over Thompson, Shumpert, JR Smith, Mozgov, and Dellavedova.

If Durant vs LeBron is a push (and I'm not sure that's true any more), I think the Wizards would have a better 2-8.

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I'll be here if y'all need a shoulder to cry on when he signs with Charlotte or some crazy ****.

****in Toronto.

He probably takes Toronto to the Finals too. Although if I were him I would much rather play with Wall and Beal than DeRozan and Lowry.

I think he's definitely going to sign a 1+1 deal no matter where he goes. If he leaves OKC, I think it's either to go to Golden State or DC. Stay where is, go to the place with the best chance to win, or go home. That's what it'll come down to. I'd put OKC at like 55%, DC at 25%, Golden State at 20%. Next summer it could be a completely different situation.

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